


Paying Debts

by mithrel



Category: Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: Blanket Permission, Children of Earth Fix-It, Established Relationship, Immortal Ianto Jones, M/M, Podfic Welcome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-07-27
Updated: 2009-07-27
Packaged: 2017-10-30 02:03:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/326554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mithrel/pseuds/mithrel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What happened after Day Five.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Paying Debts

He stood on the hilltop with Gwen, as she asked him to stay. Stay? This planet held nothing but pain for him…all the people he’d let down, all the people he’d lost. Estelle, Lucia, Ianto…Owen, Tosh and Suzie…Steven, Alice…he’d never see any of them again. He couldn’t stay here. He couldn’t stay anywhere. Any relationship he had would end, far too soon. Better not to care, better to be alone by choice.

“I’ve lived so many lives. It’s time to find another one.” He couldn’t be Jack Harkness anymore. He’d kept this identity longer than any other, because he had a reason to. Now, he just wanted to forget.

He pressed a button on his Vortex Manipulator, signalling the cruiser. Gwen tried once more to convince him, her voice breaking. “They died, and I am sorry, Jack, but you cannot just run away. You cannot run away.”

He answered her as the beam took him, his voice distorting. “Oh yes I can. Just watch me.”

***

He hitched rides after that, first on the cruiser, then a cargo freighter, then a passenger ship. He could have settled down anywhere, but he didn’t want to. He was looking for something, or rather, some _one_.

He wanted to find the Doctor and start his next regeneration early. Then he wanted to know why the hell Torchwood had been left to deal with this mess on their own, when the Doctor was supposedly the “Champion of the Earth.”

And then he wanted to ask for his help.

He’d been a Time Agent; he knew that what he was asking was impossible, that it would cause all kinds of paradoxes, but he had to try, and the Doctor was the only one who could help him.

It took him nearly ten years to find the Doctor. He was sitting in a seedy bar on a space station on the border of the Rilenna Territories when he heard a familiar voice.

“What are you doing here, Captain? What happened to your team? Or hasn’t that happened yet?”

He looked over to see the Doctor, looking the same as when he’d last seen him, in a suit with his hair sticking up everywhere. The Doctor flinched at the expression on his face. “You look like hell.”

“Thanks,” he said, laughing bitterly.

The Doctor sat down next to him, “No, seriously, what happened?”

Jack glared at him furiously. “What happened? What _happened?!_ What _happened_ was that Earth was invaded by an alien species who wanted to abduct the children to use as recreational drugs, that’s what! What _happened_ was that ‘Earth’s Champion,’ who was quite possibly the _only_ one who could help, was nowhere to be found, and so my lover died and I had to kill my own grandson!”

The Doctor stared at him in shock, his mouth working silently.

“So tell me, Doctor, just where were you? What could _possibly_ be so important that you left the children of your _favorite planet_ to be turned into some sort of ageless mutants hooked to alien monstrosities?”

The Doctor winced. “I–”

Jack cut him off. “No, don’t tell me. I don’t want to know.” Nothing could possibly justify this.

“Can I buy you a drink?” the Doctor offered timidly.

Jack laughed again, no humor in the sound at all. “I’ve been drinking for ten years. It doesn’t help.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Jack sighed. “Not particularly, but I suppose I should.”

The Doctor looked around the smoky bar. “Let’s go back to the TARDIS, there’re too many people here.”

***

“So they unleashed a virus and everyone in the building, including Ianto, died. Except me,” he finished bitterly. “I always go on.”

“I’m sorry,” the Doctor murmured. “So, so sorry.”

Jack glared at him again, a thousand retorts at the unwanted sympathy dancing on the tip of his tongue, but then he sagged back in his seat. What was the point? “Anyway, the 456 killed Clem with some kind of sound wave, and Decker figured out how to use it against them…” he trailed off.

“But…” the Doctor prompted.

“But we needed to use a child to transmit the wave, and that would kill them.”

The Doctor sucked his breath in through his teeth.

“Steven was the only child anywhere near us,” Jack said, his voice breaking, “and it was either sacrifice one child or millions, so what could I do?”

The Doctor put a hand on his shoulder as he continued brokenly, “Alice will never speak to me again, and I have no right to expect her to.”

“So you left.” It wasn’t a question, and the Doctor’s tone was neutral, but Jack could hear the disapproval nonetheless.

He reacted to it. “Yes, I left! Just like you always leave–don’t bother with the cleanup, don’t bother with the consequences, other people can deal with it!”

The Doctor flinched.

“I was looking for you,” Jack went on.

“Why?”

“To ask where the fuck you were when we needed you and also to…to ask for your help.”

“My help.” The Doctor fixed him with an unwavering stare. “Jack, if you’re thinking what I think you’re thinking, if you expect me to change anything…”

“I know, I know, paradoxes, fabric of the universe, blah-blah, but you _owe_ me! I’ve lived for more than two thousand years, most of that buried, I’m doomed to lose everyone I ever care about, and you’re the reason it happened!”

“It wasn’t me!” the Doctor protested. “Rose did it!”

“And this is her TARDIS, is it?” Jack shot back.

“What…exactly…do you want me to do?” the Doctor asked, his eyes narrowed.

“Bring Ianto back, and make him immortal too.”

"Absolutely not!” the Doctor replied flatly. “If he’s alive the 456 may not be stopped.”

“How do you figure?”

“If he was alive, would he have let you kill your grandson?”

Jack wilted. “No. No, he wouldn’t.” That was one of the things…one of the many, many things…that had made him sick about doing that. Knowing how Ianto would look at him, if he knew.

“Not to mention all the things he’d do if he was alive again that wouldn’t happen otherwise, _especially_ if he was immortal. You shouldn’t even be here, Jack, you’re wrong. Making another like you…”

“Please. I lose everyone, eventually, no matter how long they live. You _know_ what that’s like, but for you it won’t be forever! At some point your last regeneration will die, and you won’t come back. Me, I’ll always be here, until the universe collapses, afraid to care about people but unable not to. All I want is someone who can stay with me.”

He could see the Doctor wavering, and for a moment thought he would agree, but he shook his head. “No. I understand, believe me I do, but I can’t. I don’t even know how Rose did it.”

“The TARDIS would know,” Jack pointed out.

“And she’d never tell you. If I won’t agree to this, what about her? You need her energy to do it.”

“Let me at least talk to her,” Jack pleaded.

“Fine. But there’s something else you haven’t considered.”

“What’s that?”

“Humanoid bodies weren’t meant to handle TARDIS energy–it’d kill you.”

Jack shrugged. “One more death, it’s no big deal.”

“Except that it was TARDIS energy that made you immortal in the first place, and having it in you again might kill you permanently.”

“So it’s a win-win situation, then.”

“Even if you bring Ianto back as an immortal, and you die?” the Doctor asked.

That stopped him cold. He’d never condemn Ianto to the kind of existence he’d led, not alone…

But he thought of a way around it. “So I open the heart of the TARDIS, and let the energy kill me. I honestly don’t care if I stay dead, and if I don’t I can bring him back.”

“Provided the TARDIS agrees, which she never will.”

“If she agrees, will you let me do it?”

The Doctor snorted. “If she agrees, I’ll _help_ you do it!”

Jack walked over to the console and put his hand on it. The TARDIS shivered.

_Yes, yes, I know, I’m wrong, but you liked me once._

Sense of wary agreement.

_I need your help._

The wariness shifted into suspicion.

 _Please. You’re the reason I’m the way I am, the reason I lose everyone I love…_ He raked through his memories, dredging up all the old grief he’d rather forget, all the people he’d lost.

The answer came, almost in words, the suspicion now mixed with sympathy. _What do you expect me to do?_

He showed the TARDIS Ianto, everything from their first meeting when Jack was fighting the Weevil, to hiring him after they caught Myfanwy, to becoming lovers after he came back from helping the Doctor the first time. How no matter who crossed his path, he always went back to Ianto.

Then he showed the TARDIS the events of 1965, how he gave the 456 twelve children.

Her disapproval was so strong as to be physically painful.

_I know, I know, but what could I do? The flu would have killed millions!_

_That’s no excuse!_

Sure that she wouldn’t help him now, Jack showed the TARDIS what happened when the 456 came back. The destruction of the Hub and his death and capture; Gwen, Rhys and Ianto rescuing him; confessing his connection with the 456 and going with Ianto to confront them; the 456 unleashing the virus and killing everyone in the building; Ianto dying in his arms; being forced to kill his own grandson to stop them.

Silence from the TARDIS, and Jack was sure he’d failed, but just as he was about to take his hand away from the console he was enfolded in a wave of warmth and love that didn’t erase the pain and loneliness inside him, but did ease it. Along with it came agreement to the plan Jack hadn’t explicitly shown her.

He fell to his knees beside the console, tears streaming down his face. “Thank you,” he whispered.

He heard a bemused voice behind him. “I dunno how you did it, Captain, but you managed to convince her.”

He looked over at the Doctor. “So will you help?”

“I said I would, didn’t I?” the Doctor retorted.

“First I need to find out if this will kill me.”

The Doctor sighed. “If you must. I don’t fancy disposing of your body though.”

“I don’t know how long I’ll be out. Would you mind putting me somewhere comfortable? I hate waking up on the floor.”

“Sure. Your old room’s still free.”

Jack moved over to the console. It opened up, as it had when it regressed Blon Fel Fotch to an egg. The light streamed into him, filling him up.

He saw lines streaming out from everything and everyone. He saw the lives, past and future, of everyone on the station. He saw the TARDIS, all the places she’d been, ever since she’d been stolen from Gallifrey centuries ago.

He saw his own life, everything that had happened to him, everything that would, everything that might. The memories the Time Agency stole from him, the original memory of his family that Adam had altered, everything that had been retconned away.

His nerves began screaming, his mind full of possibilities. He looked at the Doctor, and saw him as he was now, but also as he had been. A mischievous child, growing into a crotchety old man. A dumpy fellow in a wrinkled suit. A dandy. A somewhat manic character with curls and a scarf. An unassuming individual in cricketing whites. A man wearing a coat that looked like it had been stitched together by a blind man from the contents of a hippie’s rag-bag. A distinguished gentleman. A fellow with long hair wearing a cravat. Then the two he’d known, with the big ears and the explosive hair.

He saw everywhere the Doctor had been, everyone he’d traveled with, everything he’d done. And for the first time he understood the darkness he’d sensed when he first met him in 1941.

His vision began to haze over, and he fell to his knees. The last thing he saw was the Doctor facing a foe he couldn’t overcome, and falling.

***

When he woke up, he had an almighty headache. He tried to remember what he’d seen, but it was gone.

He still had all the memories related to his past, but he couldn’t remember anything else.

He attempted to sit up, and fell back to the bed, swearing. He’d never felt this bad after coming back before, not even when he’d faced down Abaddon. It was like all the hangovers he’d ever had put together, and given how long he’d been around, that was quite a few.

The Doctor came in. “Ah, you’re awake. I was beginning to worry.”

“How long was I out?” Jack croaked.

“Two days.”

“I’ve been out longer.”

Suddenly he remembered the last thing he’d seen and bolted upright in bed. “Doctor! When the TARDIS opened up…you’re going to die! Soon.”

“Yes, I know,” the Doctor replied.

“You _know?_ ” he burst out. How could he be so matter-of-fact about his own death? Granted, it wouldn’t be a final death, not yet, but still…

“I’m a Time Lord, remember? All that stuff you saw is running through my head all the time.”

Jack winced at the thought as the Doctor continued. “Even if I didn’t already know it, I was told.”

“What? Who told you?”

“Several people, well, beings really, most recently a woman on a bus.”

“How would she know?”

The Doctor shrugged.

“So what are you going to do about it?”

“What can I do? When it happens I’ll try to change it, since it’s not fixed yet.” He handed Jack a cup full of a viscous liquid. “Here, drink this.”

Jack eyed it suspiciously. “What is it?”

“Concentrated nutrient and electrolyte solution. Go on, it’ll make you feel better.”

Jack gagged it down. It was salty and glutinous, but he did feel slightly better after drinking it. “I feel like hell.”

“What did you expect? You had the entirety of time and space in your head.”

Jack grimaced and shook his head, then swore again as it protested.

“You want to take a break before you do it again,” the Doctor continued.

“Again?” Jack gaped at him.

“Don’t tell me you forgot why you put yourself through that!”

He had, for a moment, but now he remembered. Ianto. He hadn’t known what it would be like having the heart of the TARDIS inside him, and the thought that he had to do it again…but he thought of Ianto and his resolve firmed. “I remember.”

“So,” the Doctor said, rubbing his hands together, “we need to plan this so there’s as little damage to the timeline as possible.”

***

In the end it was surprisingly simple. The Doctor landed the TARDIS at the crematorium and Jack took a bit of creative license with the database so no one would know Ianto’s body was missing. That way his past self would still go to find the Doctor, preventing a paradox, Ianto’s family would get “his” ashes, and the team– _team, ha, Gwen’s the only one left_ –would never realize what had happened.

They laid Ianto down in the console room on a pallet of blankets, the Doctor muttering about grave-robbing, and left before they could be caught.

“You ready?”

Jack nodded and moved to the console. “When he wakes up–if he does–he’ll be disoriented. Try to calm him down, will you?”

“Oh, sure, calm down the man who was just _brought back from the dead!_ ”

“Please?”

“Alright, alright, I’ll do my best!” the Doctor agreed crossly.

Jack put his hands on the console, and opened his mind to the TARDIS.

The light streamed into him again, but this time he didn’t see the future. As the heart of the TARDIS filled him, the energy formed a point, somehow.

But rather than moving toward Ianto, it modulated itself, changing color and texture, and flew out, back to 2009, where Alice slumped on the floor holding Steven. He gasped and sat up.

Jack froze. He didn’t want to make Steven immortal; that would be as bad or worse than him dying. But he followed the line forward, seeing Steven growing up, growing old and dying. The TARDIS had resurrected him, but not like Jack was resurrected, not eternally.

 _Thank you._ He hadn’t asked the TARDIS to bring Steven back, but he felt a great weight lift off his soul.

Only then did the energy focus on Ianto, and as Jack’s vision faded, he saw Ianto take a breath…

***

Ianto woke up on the floor. For a moment he wondered if he’d somehow fallen out of bed, but then everything came rushing back. The 456, the Hub being blown up, going with Jack to Thames House, the virus…

He bolted upright. A stabbing pain shot through his temples and he groaned.

“You’re awake.”

He looked over to see a man in a brown suit and trainers looking at him. “What happened? Where’s the 456? Who are you? Where’s Jack?”

The man waved a hand. “Calm down. What’s the last thing you remember?”

“The 456 releasing the virus.” He stopped. “I should be dead.” _I thought I_ was _dying…_

The man laughed. “You should be, and yet he wouldn’t leave well enough alone.”

“Who wouldn’t?”

The man rolled his eyes. “Jack, of course.”

“Where is he? Is he alright?”

“He’s fine. Bit out of it at the moment, but otherwise fine.” The man gestured to the side. “He’s over there.”

Ianto looked over to see some sort of column. Jack was slumped at the base of it, unmoving.

He’d covered the distance between them before he even thought of moving. He moved Jack’s arm to the side and checked for a pulse.

Nothing.

“You bastard, what did you do to him!?”

“Why is it always _my_ fault?!” the man demanded. “I didn’t do anything, he did this to himself. I shouldn’t have helped him, but you know how he is.”

“Who _are_ you?” Ianto demanded, ignoring his babbling.

“Oh, have I not introduced myself? Being rude again, sorry. I’m the Doctor.”

Ianto blinked. “Jack’s Doctor?”

“If you mean the one he was looking for, yes. I don’t belong to him.”

“What _happened?_ ” Ianto demanded. “What about Gwen? And Rhiannon and Mica and David?”

The Doctor shook his head and held up his hands. “Dunno who they are, sorry.”

Ianto’s eyes narrowed. “Where were you? You could have helped.”

The Doctor averted his eyes. “It all got fixed anyway, does it matter?”

“ _Yes!_ ” Jack had told him all about the Doctor, how he always helped the Earth, and yet, when Torchwood had been driven underground, when the world needed him, he was nowhere to be seen.

Jack groaned, trying to sit up. Ianto helped him.

Jack’s eyes fluttered open and focused on him.

And Ianto was being kissed to within an inch of his life.

“It worked!” Jack said jubilantly, as he let him go.

“ _What_ worked?” Ianto demanded, irritated. “Will someone _please_ tell me what’s going on?”

“Ianto, I love you.”

“You– _what?_ ” Not that he wasn’t happy to hear it, but he had no clue what the hell was going on, and hearing Jack just announce it out of the blue took him aback.

“I love you,” Jack repeated.

Ianto shook his head. “I love you, too, but…”

“Right, explanations, sorry. What’s the last thing you remember?”

“The virus,” he replied.

“Yeah, the virus,” Jack said thoughtfully. “It killed everybody in the building.”

“But–” Ianto began, but Jack was still talking.

“Didn’t kill me, of course, and long story short, we found a way to stop the 456.” Jack’s voice was expressionless, and Ianto felt a chill.

“What way?”

“They were vulnerable to the same frequency that they used to contact us, and if we broadcast a soundwave on that frequency it would kill them.”

There was something he wasn’t telling him. “But–?”

Jack took in a shuddering breath. “But we had to use a child to broadcast the wave and that would kill them. And the only child nearby was Steven, my grandson.”

 _His…_ “Jesus, Jack, you didn’t–”

“I did,” Jack said flatly.

Ianto flinched away from him.

“What was I supposed to do?” Jack demanded. “It was one child or millions!”

“But your own _grandson–_ ”

“There was no other way!”

Ianto moved away from him, and a flash of hurt showed in Jack’s eyes, before he masked it. Jack sighed and slumped against the column. “Yeah, I knew you’d hate me for that. It doesn’t matter now anyway.”

“Doesn’t _matter?!_ ” Ianto repeated incredulously.

“Don’t you want to know how you survived the virus?”

“Of _course_ I want to–Jack, are you ever actually going to explain anything or are you just going to drop hints?”

“You didn’t.”

Startled, Ianto looked over at the Doctor, having forgotten he was there. “Didn’t what?”

“Survive.”

“But–”

“You died, and Jack stopped the 456, then left Earth.”

Ianto looked at Jack, who nodded. “I went looking for the Doctor, to ask for his help.”

“To bring me back?”

“Not only bring you back. He wanted to make you immortal, and somehow got the TARDIS on his side. Having two of you in the same room is making my skin crawl.”

“Wait, I’m _immortal!?_ ” Ianto demanded.

The Doctor nodded. “Eternal, undying, perpetual. Wrong.”

Ianto’s mouth worked as he glared at Jack furiously, then he got up and stalked out of the room.

“Ianto, wait!”

Ianto ignored him. He had _died_. He had died, and Jack had not only brought him back he had _made him immortal_ , without his knowledge or consent. Not that he’d wanted to die, but it was his life, and if it had ended what gave Jack the right to play God?

Dimly, he noticed that whatever building he was in was very large.

A hand grabbed his arm.

“Ianto, wait!”

“Get away from me!” he snarled, shaking Jack off.

Jack held up his hands. “At least don’t go wandering around by yourself. The TARDIS is so big even the Doctor gets lost.”

He crossed his arms, but let Jack lead him to a room with a table. Jack sat across from him. “Ianto, I know you’re angry–”

“Angry?!” Ianto laughed bitterly. “You completely change my life, without my consent, and you think I’m _angry?_ I am so much more than angry, Jack, I am _tamping!_ You had _no right–_ ”

“I know, I know! You’re right,” Jack cut him off. “I decided whether you should live or die, and I had no right to do that, but–” his voice broke, suddenly. “I’ve lost everyone, _everyone!_ I couldn’t lose you too.”

Ianto felt himself softening, against his will. He’d known full well that Jack would outlive him, as he outlived everyone, had imagined what that must be like…

Now he’d know firsthand.

“My family…Rhiannon, Mica and David…”

“They’re all fine. They think you’re dead. It’s better if they keep thinking it.”

Ianto nodded. He might as well make a clean break. “What about your daughter?”

Jack smacked his forehead. “Thanks for reminding me!” He took out his wristcomp and pressed a few buttons.

“What are you doing?”

“The TARDIS didn’t only bring you back, she brought Steven back.”

“You mean he’s–”

Jack shook his head. “No, he’ll grow old and die. But now that he’s alive again, I need to make sure my past self comes looking for the Doctor. I _think_ your death will be enough to make him leave, but I’m not sure.”

“So, what, you’re sending him a message?”

Jack nodded, pressing a final button. “If he doesn’t leave, there will be all kinds of paradoxes. He stayed because of what I did, but that only happened because he left…”

Ianto nodded. “Won’t he think it’s a hoax?”

Jack shook his head. “No one else has the frequency…well, mostly no one else. Besides, I signed it.”

“Signed it…?”

“With my birth name.”

“So he knows it’s from you…I mean him?”

Jack nodded.

“Why did you never tell me your real name?”

He shrugged. “Jack Harkness is my real name, now. I hardly even think about any others.”

He suddenly thought of something. “Am I going to have to start changing names, now? I mean, now that I’m…” _Immortal._ He still couldn’t say it. He could barely even think it.

“Not if you don’t want to. We’ll probably be travelling around a lot, so people won’t notice.”

Ianto relaxed.

“Are you still angry at me?”

Ianto glared at him again. “Yes, I am. But I’ll live. _Forever._ ”

Jack winced and snorted at the same time, something Ianto had never seen before.

“This…ship?” Ianto asked, and Jack nodded. “You called it a tardis?”

“ _The_ TARDIS,” Jack corrected. “Only one left in existence. Stands for Time and Relative Dimensions in Space.”

“You talked about it as if it were alive.”

Jack smiled fondly. “She is.”

Ianto blinked at him. “She?”

“Sure. Can’t you feel it?”

Ianto wondered how exactly he was supposed to feel a ship’s femaleness. “No.”

Jack grinned. “Besides, aren’t all ships female?”

“I suppose so, but I didn’t think that went for other planets.”

Jack shrugged. “Maybe there were male TARDISes once, I dunno. They’re grown, you know, not made.”

Ianto nodded, not sure what else to do.

Jack patted the wall. “She isn’t sure how to react to me now–in fact the first time I met the Doctor again after I changed she went to the end of the universe to try to shake me off, but you used to be quite fond of me, didn’t you, old girl?”

The oddest thing happened. The ship answered him. Not in words, or even thoughts…in feelings. Ianto got the impression that the TARDIS still liked Jack.

“She won’t like you now, either, I’m afraid. You’re wrong, just like me.”

Ianto reached out to the wall, but hesitated.

Jack nodded. “Go ahead.”

As he came in contact with the ship–not plastic or metal, but something that felt distinctly organic, warm and with something very like a heartbeat–he felt a presence in his mind.

It wasn’t hostile, or even ambivalent. He was surprised, given what Jack had said. _Can you hear me?_ he thought, feeling stupid.

A feeling of assent.

Jack looked slightly put out. “How come she likes you, and not me?”

“Maybe she knows a cad when she sees one,” Ianto teased. The TARDIS…chuckled, somehow, as Jack looked indignant.

Ianto realised that she was glad he was there, that Jack wasn’t alone anymore.

 _You had no right to do this!_ he thought angrily.

The TARDIS responded with a flood of images.

 _Jack, looking slightly different than the one he knew, but still recognizable, being shot down by a Dalek._ Ianto shuddered.

_A girl, her eyes shining golden. “I bring life.” Jack gasping for air as he awoke._

He was suddenly awash with regret. It was the TARDIS’ fault that Jack was always alone, so she was going to fix it, even if it meant creating another… _abomination_ …The word came through clearly.

Ianto flinched back from it, refusing to think of himself in those terms. _You still shouldn’t have–_

The TARDIS responded with a question, clearly formed. _Why not? Don’t you_ want _to be with him?_

_Well of course I do, but…_

“He won’t.”

“I won’t what?” Jack asked

Ianto hadn’t realised he had spoken aloud. “You shouldn’t have done this, Jack. You should have just let me die, forgotten me and gone on with your life.”

“I could never forget you, Ianto.”

“You say that _now_ , but you’ve saddled yourself with me for eternity! How many times have you cheated on me, even in the two years we’ve been together? How much worse will it be now that you’ll never be rid of me?”

Jack winced. “I try, Ianto, really I do, but monogamy is so _outdated!_ ”

Ianto opened his mouth to retort, when the TARDIS stepped in.

More images crossed his mind, of him and Jack. He got emotions along with those images–amusement at his stubbornness in demanding a job, pride when he started taking on a more active role in the team, memories of him keeping Jack sane during the millennium-plus he’d spent buried, utter despair and desolation when he died.

And overlaying everything was love, love Jack hadn’t spoken until a few moments ago, and which Ianto hadn’t properly appreciated.

“Oh.”

Apparently Jack was also privy to this exchange. “Hey! No one asked you to butt in!”

_Oh, because you were doing such a fine job by yourself!_

Ianto laughed. “I like her.”

“Well, if you two are going to gang up on me, I’ll leave!” Jack grumbled, rising.

Ianto caught his sleeve and pulled him down for a kiss. Jack kissed him back, desperately.

Ianto pulled back finally, and rested his forehead against Jack’s. “So what do we do now?”

“We should leave soon. Like I said, the TARDIS doesn’t like us, and you heard the Doctor…”

“‘Having two of you in the same room is making my skin crawl,’” Ianto remembered. “What did he mean by that?”

“It’s complicated. The Doctor called me a fixed point in time. They’re not supposed to exist: everything should die or be destroyed, eventually. Having something that goes on forever…” Jack trailed off, then continued. “His species can see the flow of time, everything that ever happened, or will happen or may happen…”

Ianto shuddered.

Jack nodded. “When I brought you back I saw the same thing.”

“Do you remember any of it?” Ianto asked, appalled and yet fascinated.

“No, thank God. I’d go insane. Of course that was the second time I did that.”

“The second? What was the first?”

“Trial run. It was the TARDIS’ energy made me immortal in the first place. It was a fluke. Rose was trying to bring me back, but she couldn’t control it. The Doctor figured that having the TARDIS’ energy in me might kill me permanently.”

“You were willing to risk that?” Ianto blurted, aghast. To die for the chance of bringing him back…

“Ianto, if it had killed me I’d have been _happy!_ I had nothing left to live for, with you gone. What I _wasn’t_ willing to risk was dying after I brought you back as an immortal. I’ve been alone. I’d never want that for you, never.”

“So you checked to see if it was safe before you brought me back.”

Jack nodded. “Either I died for good, or I came back like always and could bring you back. Win-win.”

Ianto shuddered again, at the thought that anyone could _want_ to die. Although maybe once he’d lived as long as Jack had he’d want to die too. That brought the anger up again.

“You shouldn’t have done it,” he said quietly.

Jack turned away.

Ianto took his hand. “You shouldn’t have done it,” he repeated. “But I understand why you did.”

Jack looked at him again. “And now you’ve got plenty of time to forgive me.”

Ianto made a noncommittal noise.

“So you gonna stick with me, or go off on your own?”

“Where would I go, alone? I can’t go back to Earth, not for a long while at least. Might as well stay with the only person I know.”

“I’m glad.”

***

The Doctor dropped them off on the third moon of Keleris Three, in the year 2019.

“You should be able to get a ship going almost anywhere from here,” he said. “And remember, you can’t go back to Earth until everyone you knew is dead.”

Jack nodded. “I know.”

“Try to stay out of trouble, will you Captain?”

“You do _know_ him?” Ianto demanded.

The Doctor grinned at him. “That’s why I said ‘try.’”

Jack attempted to look innocent. It didn’t work. Then his face grew serious. “Thank you, Doctor. For everything.”

Ianto murmured his thanks as well.

“Don’t thank me, I’m still regretting it,” the Doctor replied, but Ianto could see he wasn’t serious. “Now go on, both of you.” He made shooing motions toward the door.

“Goodbye, Doctor. And thanks again.”

The Doctor smiled. “Take care, Captain.”

Jack held out a hand to Ianto. “Come on, handsome. I want to show you the universe.”


End file.
